What Does It Take To Be Influential in Hollywood?

11.07.08 by REELZ

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Forbes, which we like to think of as the Seventeen of financial magazines because of its incessant list-making, has another list: Hollywood's Influential Actors. To determine the top 10, Forbes relied on data gathered by E-Poll Market Research, a Los Angeles company that gathers information on 4500 celebrities. Apparently, 40% of those polled believe Denzel Washington is "influential," and that's good enough for the top of the list. The others, in declining order of influence, include Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, and "Julie" Roberts. Which just goes to show you, Hollywood stars don't have nearly as much influence as they're typically given credit for -- Roberts hasn't even been able to influence the creators of this list to get her first name right.

Meanwhile, where are the outspoken Hollywood stars who genuinely make an effort to influence people -- Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Leo DeCaprio, Kelsey Grammer, Arnold Schwarzenegger? The best way to be influential in Hollywood, it seems, is to make mainstream movies that do well at the box office for a couple decades or so, project a vague sense of progressive gravitas at award shows without being overtly political, don't be a woman, and most especially of all, don't be a comedian!